Cairo artists take creative energy to the streets

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Cairo's thriving art scene

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Egypt's revolution in 2011 has given birth to an explosion of new creativity, especially street art

Street art has existed in Cairo before the revolution, albeit furtive and hardly visible

Artists and curators are hoping to foster the country's burgeoning creativity

Egypt's revolution in 2011 gave birth to an explosion of new creativity, especially street art.

No longer confined to exhibit their works in galleries, more and more artists are turning humble streets into open-air studios and outdoor museums. Their canvas of choice is a bare, dusty wall on which they spray cheeky graffiti and paint colorful murals.

Street art has existed in Cairo before the revolution, albeit furtive and hardly visible. Graffiti or posters would pop up on some streets, but they usually soon disappeared, painted over or torn up. Street artists were chased away by police, or worse arrested.

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Cairo's rich street culture

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Reinventing Egyptian street food

During the 2011 uprising, activist artists created graffiti and murals as a form of non-violent protest. Now, in post-revolution Cairo, street art is spreading. Murals and graffiti stencils appear even in an affluent neighborhood like Zamalek, instead of hidden alleyways. Some of the artworks are emotionally charged, expressing social anger, political frustration or paying tribute to fallen protesters.

Dubai's unexpected street art 16 photos

Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

The mural of the story – Graffiti art in Dubai is experiencing a kind of explosion. Spanish street artist Ruben Sanchez came to they city as part of Tashkeel's artist residency program. He has striven to add color to the city with his Cubist-style murals.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Municipality, may I? – While street artists rarely ask for permission in other cities, in Dubai, it's par for the course. Sanchez has been getting approval from the local government and property owners before crafting his murals.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Picasso in Arabia – Sanchez's works in Dubai mix the Cubist influences of his home land, and icons of the local landscape (here, for instance, he mimics the tiled mosaics popular in Arabian architecture).

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Picasso in Arabia – In this tag, he depicts a coconut, a popular beverage in the city.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Facebook fan – Spurred on by local artists, some of the world's most prominent graffiti writers have made guest appearances. American artist David Choe -- best known perhaps for painting the Facebook offices -- collaborated with Sanchez on one of his murals.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Da Vinci's disciple – Many businesses in Dubai are incorporating graffiti art into their design. Sanchez painted the ceiling of local cafe, Urban Bistro.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Brand new – Husband-and-wife duo Steffi Bow and Sya One have become staples in the city's commercial graffiti scene. Recently, the couple were commissioned to paint the car park of Dubai's Media One Hotel, where there is a quarterly club night.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

The Graffiti Lovers – The duo are known as the Graffiti Lovers, and often work in tandem.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Nation building – They are also part of a larger crew called Deep Crates Cartel. One of the members, Melan Choly, was commissioned to do a piece on the Marina Walk for UAE National Day.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

The Great Wall – Bow and One have set up a graffiti wall in their garden. It has become a bit of a tourist attraction -- especially for visiting graffiti artists.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Drawing a Blank – Street artist Arcadia Blank is one of the city's few 'unsanctioned' writers. His work often examines the city's social and cultural landscape. Here, he scrawled "We are the dream makers" on a scaffolding in a neighborhood dominated by Dubai's migrant workers.

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Dubai's unexpected street art16 photos

Gone tomorrow – Blank tends to target temporary architecture in the city, which he tags with social commentary and philosophical missives.

In a reflection of their newly elevated status, graffiti artists get commissions from art galleries. But they or their works still risk being targeted, especially by the powerful army and its supporters.

Ganzeer, possibly Egypt's most famous street artist, was briefly arrested in May 2011, months after the revolution, over a poster criticizing the military's repression of freedom.

After the army removed President Mohamed Morsi from power in July 2013, passers-by ripped off many of sculptor Alaa Abdel Hameed's eagle sculptures, inspired by the military's insignia, that were plastered upside down because the artworks were seen as an insult to the armed forces.

Art plays a crucial role in times of political and social change, said Al-Attar, who founded and runs Studio Emad Eddin, a rehearsal space for performing artists in Cairo. "For me, it's one of the important factors that led to change."

Under the Mubarak regime, the prevalent sense of fear had a paralyzing effect on people's self-expression.

But, "once they realized there's nothing really to fear, they started to go back to their old ways of expressing themselves," said Al-Attar, "drawing on walls, singing in streets, you know, going back to the public space."

The Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival is trying to encourage more creative expression.

"Egypt has a big heritage when it comes to art and culture," says Al-Altar. "And that is one of the reasons that trying to tame that society doesn't really work. It's a society that likes to dance and sing and eat and be outside, and that's part of it."